Blog Archives

We use horror and suspense in fiction because people love to be afraid. JT MacCurdy described psychological responses to being bombed during World War Two. ‘Near misses’ were emotionally devastating, but ‘remote misses’ made people feel invincible. Does reading or…

9/11 and the Blitz both showed the fortitude of civilian populations under attack. Both contradicted assumptions that attacks would lead to mass panic. Behaviourist Solly Zuckerman documented civilian resilience during the Hull Blitz. Zuckerman’s work gives a more realistic picture…

A schoolgirl wanted to know how saintly the school’s priest was. When this schoolgirl wanted to know something, she didn’t stop wanting to know until she found out. It transpired that the priest wasn’t up to the standards of the…

Wernher von Braun designed V-2 rockets for Nazi Germany, Redstone missiles for the US military and the Saturn V for NASA. He was a brilliant engineer and an evangelical Christian who directed a concentration camp. He escaped prosecution for crimes…

In 1945, Charles Walton was murdered with his own farming tools and pinned to the ground with a pitchfork. There are many rumours occult involvement, but no evidence. The prime suspect was his employer, Alfred Potter, but evidence was circumstantial.…

Like all the best mysteries, it started when four boys went trespassing in a private forest one night. When they came across a pollarded wych elm, the dense branches looked like a good place for bird nests so up climbed…